Legend of Leader
by Kirmon64
Summary: Starburst, Eighty Third of Orange, uncovers some history unknown to Onion City.


At the time of writing this I hadn't played Pikmin 2 yet, but now that I have I've changed a few minor details so that it doesn't contradict anything. But this is still written as though Pikmin 2 either never happened or the Pikmin don't know about Olimar's second adventure. Gee that sounded confusing...

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night in Onion City.

No, really, it was.

On this particular night, a lone Orange Pikmin was running toward a dull red Onion - The Library Onion. This Pikmin, Starburst Eighty-third of Orange to be exact, had a mission: get her stupid school project done before her teacher got on her case even more. Grumbling, she climbed up one of the three stalks supporting the Onion and soon disappeared inside it. She stopped for a moment to wipe her feet on the grass carpet and wring out her flower, then proceeded to look through the nearest shelf of Bulborb-hide books.

A sigh escaped her small lips. This was so _boring_. She could be at the District Onion right now, sipping a Honeywisp smoothie with her buddies, maybe even sitting with that handsome Red. But noooo, instead she was shifting through the shelves of this dusty old Library, which nobody but the old folks gave a Shearwig's arse about. There wasn't even a librarian, for goodness sake! And this project - it was so... so...! Starburst remembered the incident clearly, and recalled the teacher's words; _'Now listen up class, for this project you can do anything you like - so long as it has to do with history.'_

Starburst, as was her interest, was all set to do a project on the invention of a machine that could carry one through the air - the interest in the skies was inherited from her Yellow mother, she supposed. But the teacher's words had dashed her hopes, and now she had to search through this dreary place. In anger and frustration she kicked the nearest shelf, causing it and the ones surrounding it to wobble.

From somewhere deep, deep inside the Onion, there was an eerie, echoing whistle.

Without thinking, Starburst ran toward the sound, dodging fallen shelves and books, her entire being focused on getting to that whistle. As she ran deeper and deeper into the Onion, losing all sense of direction in the process, signs of long ago habitation became visible. Scattered over the floor were shriveled and browned leaves, bulbs, and flowers, and the books were much, much older, and fewer. Some weren't even made of Bulborb-hide, but thick grass stalks woven together, preserved with a strange gel-like substance.

And then, suddenly, Starburst stopped. She had reached the location of the whistle - only there was nothing that could have caused it. Shaking her head to clear it, the Orange looked around, then realized that she was completely lost. "Bulblax..." she swore softly, then tried to retrace her steps. But as soon as she stepped back onto the dusty carpet of dead leaves, the whistle came again, more urgent this time and with a different pitch. _'Break down the wall.'_ it told her. _'Get to the other side.'_

Without a second thought, Starburst whirled to face a nearby bookshelf, devoid of books - and began to bash it hard with the flower on her head. With the strength inherited from her Red father, it quickly fell to the floor in pieces. As the last of the dust settled, Starburst regained her senses and coughed, waving the dust away from her face. A strange sound was echoing through the hallways. Curiosity piqued, she walked cautiously through the halls. Slowly, the sound became louder, until she recognized it as a multitude of Pikmin voices talking at once - perhaps hundreds. It was a very old version of the Pikmin language, to be sure, but still understandable. Every now and then she could catch snatches of conversation.

'_...We won...'_

'_It was a hard fight...'_

'_...Leader...'_

'_...acting odd, don't you think?'_

'_...thirty days...'_

Starburst shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. The voices were majorly creeping her out. Up ahead she could see a circular area and she stepped into it - and the whispering immediately stopped. A lone desk sat in the middle of the strange room, lit up by an eerie, sourceless glow. A single, small book lay on its gleaming surface. Slowly, she walked toward it. With hesitant, trembling fingers she brushed the book's surface. Her body went stiff as a Mamuta as images flooded her mind... images of many, many Pikmin swarming a Bulbear, knocking it to the ground, defeating it... images of Yellows snatching up strange, glowing rocks... of an odd, beetle-like creature shooting a rock, crushing Pikmin by the tens - and the remaining Pikmin swarming it, defeating it, then lifting its carcass into the air... of several Pikmin attacking three daisy-like flowers, and knocking the different-colored pellets inside them to the ground. Throughout it all, there were whistling commands. _'Attack. Break it. Carry it back. Dismiss.'_

And then, just as abruptly as it had begun, the flood of images stopped, and in its place there was an eerie silence. Starburst shivered again, her breath coming in short, terrified gasps. This place was _haunted_... With a whimper, she tried to turn and run, but a single whistle broke into her mind.

'_CARRY IT BACK!'_

The Orange grabbed the book and tucked it under once arm, and ran. She ran all the way out of the Onion, not even noticing that its pale red had briefly changed to a rich scarlet. Later, she could not recall running all the way back to the ten-legged District Onion, to her family's quarters, all the way into her bed.

x-  
x-

When she woke up, Starburst was unsure of whether the entire Library experience had been just a dream or not. For a short time, she convinced herself that it was.

But then she saw the faded blue book lying on the floor, its back and front covers facing upwards with its pages squashed underneath it. Again with trembling fingers Starburst touched the book, fearing another weird experience like the one in the Library. But none came. So, hesitantly, she lifted it off the floor and read its title.

"Legend of Leader." she whispered out loud. She flipped it open to the first page. The words were written it a beautiful golden substance, the likes of which she had never seen before. The book was written in an older script, the same way the whispers in the Library had been old, but it was still understandable.

'_It has taken me and my fellows many, many dayspans, but we have finally translated the words in Leader's strange machine that he left behind. It is strange that I know his true name now, yet I still refer to him as Leader. I have copied his words into this book, along with a narrative of our adventures, in the hopes that Pikmin of future generations will learn about the turning point in our history. And maybe, one day, another like Leader will come to our world and lead us, and maybe he will read these words too, and learn from Leader's mistakes and triumphs.'_ it was signed Rain, Thirty-fifth of Blue.

Slowly, Starburst turned the page. _'Day 1,'_ the title read. The Pikmin immersed herself in the book, reading the Leader's words and the narrative that Rain or another Pikmin of centuries past had written after each log entry, gasping in wonder and sometimes horror at the vivid illustrations that littered the pages, squinting curiously at the sketches that weren't in any Pikmin style she'd ever seen.

By the end - Day 30 - the Orange felt like she had lived back in the days of Leader, and fought giant Bulbears and Snagrets, Blowhogs and Breadbugs, the poisonous Puffstool, and most of all the colossal Emperor Bulblax. Quietly, she chuckled, finally finding out where the worst of all swear words came from. She could almost taste the fear as Rain described the Leader's departure in his odd contraption, and the fear for his safety. She relived the search for the one piece of Leader's vessel that fell off as he flew away like a bird of the air, never to return in Rain's lifetime.

Finally, on the very last page of the book, there was a detailed drawing of who Starburst imagined must have been Leader, as seen by Raine. He was plucking a Pikmin from the ground, a determined look on his face. It, like the other pictures, was titled by what the picture was of. This one wasn't called 'Leader,' but Captain Olimar - which Starburst realized was his real name. For a moment, she sat there with the book closed on her lap, remembering. Then, with sudden energy, she jumped out of bed, the silvery-blue book tucked under one arm. "Mom! Dad! I've got something to show you!" With that, she dashed out of her room, looking for her parents. She had found a project for school after all.


End file.
